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Polls and Marketing Research

Kara Barten
April 22nd, 2010
Polls and Marketing Research
In Chapter 16 of Strategic Public Relations, Austin and Pinkleton address the presentation of campaigns, program proposals, and research reports. Above all the main idea of this chapter is to inform the reader that the importance of presenting campaigns, program proposals, and research reports is to allow one’s client to understand his/her ideas and find them credible, and reliable. There are twelve steps that Austin and Pinkleton find necessary to the success of the presentation. The twelve steps include introductory material, execute summary, situation analysis and research needs, research goals, research objectives, research hypothesis, research strategies, results, revised situation analysis, proposed communication plan, conclusion, and references and appendixes. It is also suggested that one is professional and confident to ensure that the full trust of the client is obtained.
The APR Study Guide addresses the specifics of public relations, placing most emphasis on particular research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The guide states that “Public relations programs cannot be successful without proactive, strategic planning that includes measurable objectives, grounded in research and evaluated for return on investment. Because strategic planning is such a critical requirement for the public relations profession, the planning process makes up the largest portion of the Examination.”

Due to the intense necessity of each of the following parts of public relations: research, planning, execution, and analyzing, the study guide details a four step process. The first step, research, is important in order to gather the information needed to help describe and understand what you are doing. Since this is the very first step, it is important to figure who the client is, and why they want this information, so it can then be relayed in a desirable way. The second step, planning and analyzing, is important in order to set goals for the cause. It is also important here to consider both long and short term goals.
During the implementing, executing, and communicating stages, it is necessary to find a way to effectively convey the message to the target audience to get the intended results. When evaluating, one must analyze previous goals that have been set to see if they have been met. It is also important to evaluate what could have been done more efficiently to gain a better end result. The APR Guide also discusses the ten steps important to the writing a successful and productive public relations plan. These ten steps were as follows: to decide overall goals, target audiences, objectives for your audience, strategies, tactics, activities, evaluation, materials, budget, and a timetable and task list. By doing all of these things you will create a successful public relations plan.
The poll that I found relevant to this reading focused on the Tiger Woods scandal and was found in the Polling Unit of http://www.abcnews.com. I am sure his public relations team has been working non-stop to save his image. The poll asked people is they believed Tiger’s apology to be sincere. The poll found that 54% of American ‘believe his apology to be sincere’ and that 55% ‘willing to forgive him’. I was also stated that this is far higher than has been reported before. His public relations team must be happy with these results. It appears Tiger may have a chance at the support of America again. However, these percentages are not quite high enough to say that there is a strong support of Tiger, yet. Though, I am sure there will many more poll on the topic to inform us in time.